For patients whose obesity presents an immediate serious health risk, surgical procedures are available to promote weight loss. Two of the most common surgical procedures are gastric bypass and gastric band. During gastric bypass, the stomach is made smaller and food bypasses part of the small intestine. The smaller size stomach causes the patient to eat less and the bypass of the small intestines leads to less calories being absorbed by the body.
In the most common type of gastric bypass surgery, roux-en-y, a small pouch is formed at the top of the stomach using staples. The smaller stomach is connected to the middle portion of the small intestines bypassing the upper portion of the small intestines.
Devices have been developed to form the smaller stomach from the patient's original stomach. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0022851 to Kalloo et al. (Kalloo). Kalloo discloses a loop 80 reducing the volume of the gastric cavity. A feeder line is pulled to reduce the diameter of the loop and collapse the walls of the stomach to define a smaller pouch.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0157067 to Saadat et al. (Saadat) discloses the use of tissue anchors to form a gastric pouch acting as a restriction to the passage of fluids and food. U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,949 to Shlain (Shlain) discloses a clip placed across the fundus of the stomach to restrict the inlet chamber or proximal pouch. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 6,869,438 to Chao (Chao) discloses a gastric partitioning clip creating a stomach pouch from the stomach to restrict the amount of food intake.
It is an object of the invention to provide a device for separating the stomach into two compartments but allowing communication between the compartments.
It is another object of the invention to provide a device for forming a smaller stomach pouch, the size of the pouch being tailored to the patient's individual circumstances.
It is another object of the invention to provide a procedure creating a small stomach pouch to limit intake of food separate from the stomach but allowing gastric juices from the excluded stomach to flow into the pouch.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a system for creating a small pouch from the main stomach that is reversible.
It is still another object of the invention to alter the production of hormones, enzymes and chemicals that affect metabolism, energy levels, hunger, digestion, absorption of nutrients, weight loss, maintenance or gain that may be affected by exclusion of the gastric fundus and body of the stomach.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent after reading the disclosure of the invention.